At a CATL direct-sales experience center in Beijing on Sept. 16, two high-mileage electric cars were taken apart to examine their batteries. A 2019 GAC Aion S that had covered 770,000 kilometers retained 88% battery health; a Geometry A with 700,000 kilometers showed 90%. Neither pack had visible water intrusion, corrosion or abnormal swelling. Both vehicles had spent years in intensive commercial use.
The results came amid a broader effort by automakers to reduce dependence on CATL. Li Auto has been developing battery cells since 2020 and uses cells from Sunwoda in some models, while handling areas such as cell formulation, packaging processes and battery-management software. Xiaomi and Huawei also set battery specifications and quality requirements while relying on suppliers to make the cells. Even so, the shift is generally toward multiple suppliers rather than excluding CATL: some Xiaomi and Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance models still use its batteries, as does Leapmotor’s D19 flagship.
The article argues that battery longevity depends on more than published capacity or charging-rate figures. Cell chemistry, material choices, manufacturing consistency, pack design, thermal management and control strategies all affect real-world aging. CATL’s passenger-car battery installation share in China reached 46.7% in the first half of 2026, up 5.6 percentage points year on year, while its capacity utilization was 94.86%. The article also notes that CATL’s 5C ternary batteries had become difficult to obtain, a factor Li Auto cited when changing the MEGA’s battery supplier.
New safety-testing requirements in China add checks after fast-charging cycles and aging tests. But whether other suppliers can match CATL’s durability, production consistency and cost will take years of fleet data to establish. The article frames CATL’s longer-term challenge as extending its materials, manufacturing and production expertise into areas such as energy storage, battery swapping and overseas technology licensing.